MarkvW wrote:I don't think mountain bikes have any place in a true wilderness area, like a national park, but we all have to share the outdoors. I can't see any good reason for banning mountain bikes from any place that is regularly logged--especially if the mountain bikers contribute to the trail building in the area.

Mountain bikes can quickly chew up a hiking trail that took a ton of volunteer effort to build.

I agree that mountain bikers do not belong in a National Park or someplace like Baxter State Park here in Maine. But where I live in Portland, Maine, there would not be a fraction of the trails that exist without mountain bikers. There has been an explosion of trail building in and around the city, we can easily do a 50 mile MB ride on trail in Portland and the surrounding towns. This has been mostly spearheaded by mountain bikers. So hikers, dog walker and trail runners (something I also do) have benefited from the work of riders. We all coexist rather nicely.

Tom T. wrote:I agree that mountain bikers do not belong in a National Park or someplace like Baxter State Park here in Maine. But where I live in Portland, Maine, there would not be a fraction of the trails that exist without mountain bikers. There has been an explosion of trail building in and around the city, we can easily do a 50 mile MB ride on trail in Portland and the surrounding towns. This has been mostly spearheaded by mountain bikers. So hikers, dog walker and trail runners (something I also do) have benefited from the work of riders. We all coexist rather nicely.

Yeah, I totally agree with you.

I'm new to the sport. But this is happening in central Indiana too. Bikers build the trails and ask everyone not to use when it's muddy. This annoys hikers, dog walkers and horse riders who think "it's a trail, it's supposed to have a bit of mud".....then get super defensive when those, that have put in the effort to build them (and maintain them) ask them to stop doing it.

MarkvW wrote:I don't think mountain bikes have any place in a true wilderness area, like a national park, but we all have to share the outdoors. I can't see any good reason for banning mountain bikes from any place that is regularly logged--especially if the mountain bikers contribute to the trail building in the area.

Mountain bikes can quickly chew up a hiking trail that took a ton of volunteer effort to build.

I agree that mountain bikers do not belong in a National Park or someplace like Baxter State Park here in Maine. But where I live in Portland, Maine, there would not be a fraction of the trails that exist without mountain bikers. There has been an explosion of trail building in and around the city, we can easily do a 50 mile MB ride on trail in Portland and the surrounding towns. This has been mostly spearheaded by mountain bikers. So hikers, dog walker and trail runners (something I also do) have benefited from the work of riders. We all coexist rather nicely.

The dear, elk, foxes, coyotes, wolves, bears, raccoon, porcupines, rabbits, squires, and others use the trails that we have built. Well designed/built trails enhances their habitat, while allowing us to share it with them. If you want to get nit-picky, your house is worse habitat destruction than a trail.

If mankind ceased mountain biking, how many months would pass before nature had erased all evidence of this "destruction"?

If mankind ceased maintaining all the many millions of kilometres macadam roadway and hundreds of thousands of concrete buildings it has built, how many centuries would pass before nature had erased all evidence of this "civilization"?